Running From a Bear: How Poor Stock Market Performance Affects the Determinants of Mutual Fund Flows

Abstract:  Using a proprietary data set to study how past performance affects the determinants of mutual fund flows for a sample of load fund investors, I provide evidence that the determinants of fund flow depend on market conditions for both redemptions and purchases. Specifically, I show that, for redemptions, relative performance and risk adjusted performance are important determinants during a period of record flows into mutual funds. Conversely, during a period of poor performance, absolute performance becomes much more important and relative performance and risk adjusted performance become less important. For purchases, absolute performance, risk adjusted performance, and most relative performance measures become more important during the bear market.     

Framing and the disposition effect: evidence from mutual fund investor redemption behaviour

Research on decision-making under uncertainty has highlighted that individuals often use simple heuristics and/or exhibit behavioural biases. Specifically, with respect to portfolio decisions, research has indicated that investors are subject to the disposition effect, i.e. they are reluctant to sell assets that have performed poorly (losers) and prone to sell assets that have performed well (winners). We find that the mutual fund investors in our sample are subject to the disposition effect when they withdraw the redemption proceeds from their account, but not when they reallocate the proceeds within the account. The evidence is consistent with Shefrin and Statman’s hypothesis that framing a transaction as a transfer as opposed to a sale mitigates the disposition effect.     

Does adverse selection affect bid–ask spreads for options?

This study examines two different option markets to test whether differences in the level of adverse selection faced by market makers affect the size of bid–ask spreads. The data are from bank‐issued options that trade on EuWax, where market makers face little adverse selection and traditional options that trade on EuRex. The results support the hypothesis that the adverse selection component of the bid–ask spread is important, as options on EuWax have lower bid–ask spreads than comparable options on EuRex. The results show that the adverse selection component represents at least half of the overall bid–ask spreads on the traditional EuRex. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:417–437, 2008